In recent years, a number of natural products isolated from Chinese herbs have been found to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress angiogenesis, retard metastasis and enhance chemotherapy, exhibiting anti-cancer potential both in vitro and in vivo. This article summarizes recent advances in in vitro and in vivo research on the anti-cancer effects and related mechanisms of some promising natural products. These natural products are also reviewed for their therapeutic potentials, including flavonoids (gambogic acid, curcumin, wogonin and silibinin), alkaloids (berberine), terpenes (artemisinin, β-elemene, oridonin, triptolide, and ursolic acid), quinones (shikonin and emodin) and saponins (ginsenoside Rg3), which are isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs. In particular, the discovery of the new use of artemisinin derivatives as excellent anti-cancer drugs is also reviewed.

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4-(1H-phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazol-2-yl)benzaldehyde 1 was rationally designed as a novel ratiometric fluorescent probe for cysteine and homocysteine. Upon addition of cysteine or homocysteine, notably, the probe displayed a very large (125 nm) hypsochromic shift in emission due to switching off intramolecular charge transfer. This large emission wavelength shift may allow probe 1 to be employed for quantitatively detecting Cys/Hcy.

In this work, we have successfully provided a novel strategy for the rational design and synthesis of a ratiometric fluorescent probe for hypochlorite. The strategy is based on the deoximation reaction, which has not yet been used in the fluorescent hypochlorite probe design. Interestingly, the probe showed a ratiometric fluorescent response to hypochlorite with the emission intensities ratio (I(509)/I(439)) increasing from 0.28 to 2.74. Furthermore, the probe displayed high selectivity for hypochlorite over other species due to the distinct deoximation conditions. The probe developed herein represents the first ratiometric fluorescent probe for hypochlorite.

A highly sensitive fluorescent probe with a detection limit of 1.8 x 10(-9) M was constructed and employed to detect benzenethiols in environmental samples and living cells.